Terraform Variable Precedence Explained | tfvars, TF_VAR, -var & -var-file
🏗️ Terraform Variable Precedence — Complete Guide! 🚀
You have variables in tfvars, CLI flags, environment variables & defaults…
But which value does Terraform ACTUALLY use? 🤔
This video explains the EXACT Terraform variable precedence order every DevOps engineer must know 👇
📌 What You’ll Learn:
✅ What Variable Precedence means in Terraform
✅ Why precedence matters in real-world deployments
✅ Default values in variables.tf
✅ TF_VAR_ environment variables explained
✅ terraform.tfvars vs *.auto.tfvars
✅ -var-file for multi-environment setups
✅ Why -var flag always wins
✅ Common mistakes that break PROD deployments ⚠️
🔥 One wrong variable value can deploy the WRONG infrastructure to production!
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📌 CHAPTERS
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00:00 — Intro
00:34 — Why Variable Precedence Matters
01:25 — Complete Priority Order Explained
02:34 — Notes Overview
05:30 — Hardcoded Values in main.tf
08:30 — Variable Declaration in variables.tf
10:53 — Priority 1 → Default Values
13:44 — Priority 2 → TF_VAR_ Environment Variables
15:07 — Priority 3 → terraform.tfvars
16:35 — Priority 4 → terraform.tfvars.json
18:00 — Priority 5 → *.auto.tfvars
19:00 — Priority 6 → -var-file Flag
20:17 — Priority 7 → -var Flag (Highest Priority)
20:40 — Outro
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📂 RESOURCES & NOTES
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📘 GitHub Notes:
https://github.com/pythondevop12/Terr...
🎬 Complete Terraform Playlist:
• Terraform for Beginners to Advanced | Real...
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🛠️ COMMANDS USED
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Apply with highest priority variable
terraform apply -var="bucket_name=my-bucket"
Apply using environment-specific variables
terraform apply -var-file="prod.tfvars"
Export environment variable
export TF_VAR_bucket_name=my-bucket
Preview infrastructure changes
terraform plan
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#Terraform #DevOps #AWS #IaC #CloudEngineering #TerraformTutorial #InfrastructureAsCode #DevOpsEngineer #Cloud #AWSCloud #TerraformBeginner
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